Reply
to Denise Ebert's request for information:
Prof. Fritz Otto Kaufmann left many traces in
Bad Brueckenau, the place he lived for many years. Prof.
Kaufmann was born 16 December 1899 in Erfurt (Thuringia) where he also attended
an art college. After WW 1, he went to universities in Halle (Saxonia) and
Berlin to become an art teacher. After graduation, he went back to his hometown
and taught art at a local school. He also became an assistant of several
distinguished art historians and worked in the field of preservation of historic
fresco paintings and worked for the department for preservation of ancient
monuments.
Having already served in the German
military in WW1, he had to go to war a second time in WW2. After the war, he
went to the spa city of Bad Brueckenau where he taught art at the Franz Miltenberger
school. His hometown of Erfurt was located in the Soviet-occupied zone, which
later became the communist "German Democratic Republic of Germany" DDR. In
order to live in a free country, he went to the American-occupied zone, in which
Bad Brueckenau was located. Here he also worked as an restorer of historic fresco
paintings in local churches.
Besides restoring ancient artwork,
he did his own as well. He created paintings and frescos for various churches
such like the Volkersberg monastery, an outdoor altar at the church of Marien
Ehrenberg and a war memorial for the village of Kothen. He also worked as an
art-architectural advisor for new buildings and renovations throughout the district
of Franconia.
In 1966 Prof. Kaufmann retired from
teaching but kept working as director of the local Bad Brueckenau Heritage Museum
which he helped found several years before until 1979. Prof. Kaufmann died
5 November 1991 at age 92. His artwork lives on today, especially the fresco
paintings he made for several local churches, oil paintings he created for
the monasteries of Volkersberg and Kreuzberg, as well as for the spa-hall in
Bad Brueckenau which remain up to today. One of the most famous artworks of
Prof. Kaufmann is a huge mosaic he created for the lobby of the spa-treatment-building
(a facility where treatments with healing water are conducted) in Bad Brueckenau.
When this building was torn down in 1998, it was agreed to preserve the mosaic.
A restorer who specialized in this field took the mosaic down and stored it piece
by piece in wooden boxes. It took until September 2006 to find a new place for
this mosaic. Now the mosaic that shows the Greek spa-goddes is finally on display
in the "Siebener-Park" in
Bad Brueckenau, not to far from its original location.
I hope most of it makes any sense to you. If you ever think of visiting the
area: *** commercial on: "Talk to the people of BORDERTOURS. They offer
full service: Pick up from airport, hotel, transportation, English speaking
guide - everything!!!! They will even create a special Prof. Kaufmann tour
- just for you! www.bordertours.com <http://www.bordertours.com> ******
commercial off. :-))
Merry X-mas and a happy new year,
Heinz Sergeant_L@t-online.de
12/19/06 Denise:
Thanks for contacting me so quickly. I think these watercolors
were done while my father was prisoner of war in France. I know that
he was assigned a driver and could go to Paris to buy material for his
paintings. I know from him that the folks in charge of the prison
asked the prisoners about their occupation and assigned them some
work: cook - cook, carpenter - do woodwork. My father
studied art and art history, so he was assigned to work as
a painter. I believe he did also some portraits. The American
flag seems to indicate that the pictures were done in France.
I would love to see more of the pictures that you obtained
at an auction. If it is possible, please scan some of the text als,
perhaps I can read and translate it.
Happy Holidays to you,
Renate Staub
19 Dec 2006
fritz otto kaufmann was my grandfather, if you need informations about him i will tell my aunt to translate some articles
for you. i would be happy, if it's possible, to get soft copys of your watercolor paintings
greetings from bavaria germany
mit freundlichen Grüßen
best regards
Andreas Hohmann ah@taurus-concept.de